Caramel Mocha and a Strawberry Cupcake
by Anna Maye
Summary: Hanji Zoe only wanted her usual coffee and cupcake, at her usual time, with her usual barista. What will happen when a shift switch disrupts her coffee visit? { I suck at writing summaries but here we have a Modern-AU!Coffee-Shop-AU!LeviHan fic, no smut at any point, fluffiness to come }
1. H-A-N-J-I

Hanji happily bounced into the small little corner cafe, not caring at all about the snow flurry happening outside. The brunette was still mentally absorbed in the research that she'd left back at her apartment. In a dreamlike trance, wondering for the millionth time how the chimps were doing back at her lab, she ordered her usual coffee. "One large caramel mocha, triple shot of espresso, add chocolate syrup and whipped cream, only on the top, and a strawberry cupcake." She said monotonously, barely noticing the unfamiliar barista at the counter. Usually it was that friendly boy Armin, a sweet little blonde who would let her babble about her latest experiments. He was just trying to pay his way through college, but he wasn't only nice to Hanji because she was a great tipper. However, this new, older man, looked anything but cheerful and pleased at her presence.

"….I am not making that," The barista said flatly, looking up from the untouched cash register to Hanji's face. She finally paid enough attention to spot his name tag, proclaiming that he was "Levi A". "If you want coffee, order something decent, Glasses." He rolled his eyes. The scientist was broken out of her daydreaming haze by his rudeness, the smile dropping from her face as she adjusted her spectacles.

"Where's Aaron….Andy, uh…" She stuttered, unable to remember the boy's name.

"Armin?" Levi raised one slender eyebrow. "He's off today." 

"B-but he always works on Thursdays…He always gets me what I ask for, which happens to always be this." Hanji crossed her arms defensively.

"Well, tough luck, Four Eyes, Armin has midterm exams. I will give you either a plain caramel mocha, or I will give you espresso shots. You aren't getting them both together. And you definitely aren't adding whatever else into it." He said calmly, with a perfectly emotionless expression.

"….I want a caramel mocha."

"I'm not putting espresso in it." He warned, ringing up the order and holding his hand out for cash. Once handed a ten dollar bill, the man gave back the proper amount of change, minus four dollars, then turned to make her drink.

Hanji counted the money she was handed, frowning slightly when she found it to be short. "Uhm, excuse me…why am I missing money here?" She asked. He had counted it right in front of her, did he think she was stupid? 

"I deducted my tip." He replied as he worked on making the coffee.

"Your tip?" She blinked twice. The brunette tipped quite generously, but Levi was just going to take money himself?

"Yes, my tip. What's the name for the order?" The rather short man asked, grabbing a sharpie to write on the cup.

"H-hanji…" Emotions battled inside her, unsure of whether to make her annoyed, or furious, or…what was the feeling that was making her cheeks turn just the slightest bit pink?

"….I'm not going to listen to you whine about how I spelt it wrong, how do you spell it?"

"H-A-N-J-I." 

"Go sit down then, Hanji." He commanded, his tone casual but firm, as if it was perfectly natural for customers to take orders from a barista.

In her shock and confusion, Hanji obeyed and sat down at a nearby table. This stranger was….interesting, to say the least. The strange interruption had made her forget all about her experiments, her chimps, her little ramshackle lab fifteen minutes away. All that was on her mind was the piercing eyes, rimmed by tinges of blue and purple from sleeplessness, how bored they looked, but how intense at the same time…She noticed her thoughts trailing, and tried to refocus on the research notes she'd stopped in the middle of. Sonny was acting rather strangely, and she'd meant to find out what was going on with the chimpanzee.

"Four Eyes, your coffee is ready!" Levi yelled, his voice too loud for the minimal noise of the café. She sighed, pulled out of her mental test-planning. All that fuss over her name, and he insisted on calling for Four Eyes. She stood up, going to see the same nickname written on the paper cup. "Thanks." She muttered, ignoring the scalding hot liquid that she could feel through the cup.

Hanji began to walk off with her coffee, but was caught by a gentle yet firm hand grabbing her by the arm. "You forgot your cupcake." Levi added, turning her around to face the counter again. He pulled the freshest strawberry cupcake from the glass case of baked goods, handing it to the brunette.

She was taken aback by the surprise contact, but was grateful that she had been stopped before she'd left. "Ahh, thanks," The mumbled reply came, her cheeks bright red from the embarrassment of being pulled about like a rag doll. "Bean wouldn't know what to do without his cupcake…" She muttered, mostly to herself. The test chimp usually ended up eating nearly half of her cupcake, when she forgot about it and left the treat out amongst her experiment papers.

The barista shook his head, deciding to ignore the last statement. He'd obviously flustered the woman, and that gave him some small, secret sense of satisfaction. "Same time tomorrow, Glasses?" He asked, going to wipe down a spill on the counter.

Normally Hanji only had her cupcake and coffee once a week, every Thursday as a treat, but the male seemed so insistent, so unquestioning in his logic, that she couldn't help but agree. "Uh, yeah, same time, same order." She muttered. The amateur scientist then quickly took her order and rushed out of the café, cheeks still pink and her gaze glued to the floor.


	2. Single Shot of Espresso

Once back to her sloppy little lab, Hanji laid out all of her papers again. She'd forgotten a couple of pages of notes at her apartment, but she decided she'd make do without them. Usually her lab was her "happy place", her place to go when she wanted to escape from thoughts of everything but her chimpanzees and her research. But that afternoon, she couldn't stop her thoughts from drifting back to the barista. She decided to place the blame on the fact that he was an interruption in her usual routine. It definitely wasn't his piercing eyes, his strong jawline, his hair that flipped in just the right way….no. Just a change in routine, nothing more.

It took a couple of hours for her to get back "in the zone" to do any real research. She hardly got anything done, however, as the chimps refused to cooperate. It was near one in the morning (still rather early for her) when she began to finish up her report for the day. The woman headed home after cleaning up, enjoying the peace and quiet of the walk home at 2 AM. As soon as she crashed onto her bed, still fully clothed, she fell straight asleep. Without three shots of espresso to help, the mere four hours of sleep she'd gotten the night before simply couldn't keep her awake any longer.

The next morning, she woke up at 9:57 AM, quite a bit later than usual. She'd gotten a full eight hours, but at the price of missing valuable lab time. If she didn't get anything worthwhile done in two days, she'd consider the week an absolute failure. Jumping out of bed and putting on her shoes, the brunette pulled her hair into its usual ponytail without so much as brushing it. A piece of toast in her mouth and a jacket on her body, and she was out the door.

Hanji would've headed straight to the lab, but she'd promised Levi she'd come back to the café. It was a stupid agreement with a complete stranger, she tried to remind herself, but her footprints, easily visible in the snow, led to the coffee shop once again. Levi was working, wiping down the countertop with a rag and disinfectant spray.

"Hello again…" Hanji said. She walked up to the counter, speaking up as Levi took no notice of her.

"You're late, Four Eyes." Still yet, he didn't look up from his cleaning.

"W-well, yes, I had other things to do…" Hanji lied, pulling at her ponytail. It was even more sloppy than usual, half of it falling down and half of it up.

"No, you just overslept. Your clothes are a mess, same ones from yesterday. And, honestly, would it kill you to wash that greasy hair?" Levi, content with his work, put away the cleaning supplies and came back to the cash register.

"I'm too busy for that now…I just want my coffee and a cupcake." She said meekly, cheeks turning a light crimson color.

"Fine. You look horrid. You've earned a shot of espresso." The barista turned around, making her caramel mocha and adding the liquid energy.

Hanji couldn't help the ridiculous grin that came across her face. It was a definite improvement over yesterday. When he finished the drink, she gave him exact change. He counted it, sorting each coin and dollar bill into the proper section of the cash register.

"And here is your tip." She smiled smugly, handing him four dollars, as he'd taken yesterday. It was merely to show that she'd do as she liked. Even if she wasn't going to argue over her coffee order.

The black-haired man rolled his eyes, handing her the coffee and pulling a cupcake from the case of sweets. "How generous of you." He said, the sarcastic tone hiding his genuine appreciation.

When the goods exchanged hands, Hanji turned to leave. However, she turned back around, a split second decision she immediately regretted. What was she going to say? He saw her turn around, she couldn't just leave. Why did she feel like she was about to pass out? Her cheeks burnt bright red from embarrassment, a goofy half-grin on her face as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Ahhh, I was just wondering….if, maybe you'd like to join me sometime…for, ahh, coffee!" She blurted out, her mind failing her halfway through.

Levi simply shook his head, turning away to hide the touch of a smile on his lips. "Moron, we're in a coffee shop."

A/N: Ahhh, the second chapter! I hope this isn't too OOC, but it's my first LeviHan fic sooooo I hope it's okay. Reviews, favs, and follows are greatly appreciated, and I love constructive criticism!


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